What makes for good teaching
As a TA, this might be your first foray into teaching. Fortunately, good teaching is a skill that you can build and improve on and not just something you inherently have or have to figure out. Chickering & Gamson (1987) offer seven research-backed principles of good teaching practices for undergraduate classes:
Encourage contact between students and educators
Establishing rapport and an open line of communication is the biggest factor in building student motivation and engagement in the classroom. As you develop your teaching practice, look towards adopting a student-centred teaching approach.
If feasible in your context, you may want to try the following:
- Get to know your students (their names, goals in/out of the course, and experience of the course). See also Building a positive classroom environment.
- Personalize feedback on student assessments
- Share your experiences with the course material
- Check in with students you know are struggling with the content or are falling behind
Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students.
We often think about the relationship between the instructor and students, but cannot forget about the relationship between students. Examples to establish and foster this relationship can include:
- Encourage multiple ways of discussion besides large class discussions, which may only centre a few voices. Consider smaller group discussions, asynchronous discussion forums on Moodle, or learning groups throughout the term.
- Facilitator small group work whenever possible. [1]
Encourage active learning
Learning is not a spectator sport. Provide opportunities in and out of the classroom for students to interact with the content by discussing, questioning, reflecting and relating to their experiences.
Examples:
- Explore the different activities and communication tools available on Moodle to help you facilitate interaction between students and the content. For example, JazzQuiz on Moodle or ‘Present’ mode on Microsoft Forms allows you to conduct live and anonymous polling for students to check their knowledge.
Learn more
Give prompt feedback
Examples:
- Give incremental feedback on drafts throughout a project, rather than all at the end. This can also take various forms rather than written feedback. For example, feedback can be provided verbally or through group discussions.
- See more tips for managing your workflow to give prompt feedback in the Grading & feedback section of this book.
Clarify time on task
Time on task means how much time something is estimated to take to complete. Give students a realistic expectation of time necessary to complete a specific task.
- Remember, you generally will complete work faster than students, as they may be learning the course topics for the first time. A good rule of thumb is to time how long it takes you to complete, and multiply it by three.
- You can use workload calculators such as the UOttawa workload estimator.
- Provide clear deadlines in your course outlines, assignment descriptions and on Moodle (if applicable), and ensure they are consistent.
- Provide reminders before the deadline if the project is longer than a few weeks or during a busy time of the academic year.
Communicate high expectations
Expecting more will yield more – high expectations are important for everyone, including students who are typically considered ‘under-achieving’ or ‘poorly prepared.’ Good teaching includes finding the right balance between having high expectations and being understanding that students have various baselines and motivations for learning.
Examples:
- Provide rubrics for assignments ahead of time with clear & measurable objectives tied to a grading scale. More on developing a rubric here.
- Provide samples of previous good student work (ask the instructor for this)
Respect diverse talents and ways of learning
Good teaching recognizes that there is no one method of learning that fits all students. Flexibility in your teaching allows students to adapt the learning to what works best for them.
Examples:
- Learn more about your class and their needs by conducting an informal and anonymous survey at the start of the term.
- Make sure your course content on Moodle is accessible so that students can download them into a format that they need. You can use the Brickfield Accessibility toolkit file converter to more easily provide students with alternative file formats.
What do students say make a good teacher?
Results from a qualitative study by Cafarella (2021) in which university math students were asked what they thought the qualities of a good teacher were included:
- Learning our names and getting to know us and our struggles
- Being empathetic and caring about our success
- Using incorrect answers as a learning opportunity
- Trying to find different ways to explain or help us learn
- Interacting and asking questions while teaching
- Working on problems in class
- Being prepared for class
- Facilitating group work can be a challenge. Here are some tips from the University of Waterloo to help group work run more effectively. ↵
A relationship built between people or groups that is based on mutual trust and understanding.
It can also be referred to as ‘learner-centred’ teaching or pedagogy. This educational approach prioritizes the varied needs and interests of the learner and encourages them to take a more active role in the learning process through interactive, experiential and collaborative techniques.
Reciprocity is a characteristic of a relationship in which both parties can mutually benefit in a way that they value.
The online learning management system used at Concordia. Typically, lecture slides, discussion forums, and assignments are posted here.
An approach to classroom teaching and learning that focusses on planning and guiding students through various activities that require learning by doing. Active learning activities include but are not limited to group work, discussions, presentations, and problem-solving.
